


Beneath Silent Waters

by Jenshih_Blue



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Coda, Episode: s07e02 Hello Cruel World, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-22
Updated: 2012-07-22
Packaged: 2017-11-10 12:29:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/466270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jenshih_Blue/pseuds/Jenshih_Blue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When all seems lost, a part of us stays afloat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beneath Silent Waters

There was a moment of relief, of silence so awe inspiring, he almost believed the worst of it is over and then he felt them. Darker than any of the souls he’d stole from Purgatory they writhed and twisted inside him. He could feel them move through muscle, bone, and blood; flowing as if a river of bitter poison through the veins and capillaries of his host. The rush of their movement caused his stomach to heave and his human eyes to water with the pain of it all. Not simple physical pain, but spiritual pain as well.  
  
They fed on his grace gorging on a light they’d not witnessed in billions of years, long before humans walked the earth. They were but children though; a swarm of tadpoles compared to what called them and guided their desire to escape what they saw as a weak human shell barely strong enough to contain the grace of their warden’s child.  
  
Lovecraft knew far more than he realized. He used what he believed to be his imagination to write of creatures who ruled the Earth before man. Dark, wicked things born of primordial ooze from which the Earth and Heavens expelled as well. One singular explosion of power that reverberated through existence leaving behind ripples only the angels and God himself could see. Faint, powerful ripples in the murky waters of Creation, waters the children of the First coveted as nothing else.  
  
He struggled with what little strength remained, crying out to those who helped him when he’d fell his lowest although he felt he was undeserving. Confused they lingered wanting to help him, yet there was no salvation this time. He should have known they were there before the door of their prison closed. The others had been easy to spot as they flowed upon the thousands from his damaged vessel. These though had hidden from his sight devious and cunning as they wiggled closer to his grace.  
  
When they bound him at last, their lies began, curling from chapped and bloody lips as if they possessed a life of their own. The lies may have possessed the ring of truth, yet they were lies nevertheless. Perhaps they did believe him dead or rather dying and of no consequence. From what he knew of them, they were self-centered creatures who believed themselves far superior to any who came after.  
  
He refused to die though. Redemption still needed discovery in the eyes of the man he’d lifted from perdition—his brother. He’d done all he had to save their world and although his choices—poor as they were—had damned him, they’d succeeded in the end in accomplishing what he’d set out to do.  
  
Their voices threatened and spun their web of lies before they forced his vessel from the ruined factory. They had never worked within the confines of a human shell and his struggle to escape their hold didn’t help. Panic set in when he heard one word echo through their collective consciousness—water. These denizens of the underworld, born of an ancient evil even Lucifer could not compare to were far more concerned with getting to the water than his minuscule struggles. His grace decimated by their hunger, remained but a tiny spark gleaming in the darkness and deep within he could sense Jimmy rising to the surface, struggling as humans were want to.  
  
Jimmy needed to sleep and he wanted—no needed—to escape before the light of who he was extinguished as a candle flame in a wild gust of wind. He knew when they entered the waters of the reservoir, cold and rejuvenating to the beasts yearning to escape his wounded body. Jimmy’s screams of terror filled his mind as their head began to lower beneath the still waters. His vessel couldn’t swim and was terrified of water, but with what little grace remained Castiel managed to sooth his fears. Slowly Jimmy slipped away into the silent place he’d been since his desperate plea to save his daughter had bound them forever.  
  
When the water closed over him at last, curling around what remained of his human vessel, the beasts exploded outward shattering every bone. Muscles tore and blood mixed with water, Castiel screamed inside as everything he possessed fought to hold his physical form together. The black masses moved outward in a cloud of darkness, their voices shrieking in glee beneath the surface. When he believed he’d lost all faith in his father the soldier he’d been, refused to give in to his all too human doubts.  
  
Once the Leviathan children had departed, what remained of Jimmy Novak’s body drifted to the bottom of the reservoir until it settled on cold concrete; piece by bloody piece. Now the creatures, hell most humans, would believe this to be the end. His vessel shattered beyond recognition, his grace consumed, yet they would be wrong.  
  
Castiel had, somehow over the years he’d known the Winchesters, become a favored child. Despite his death at the hands of both Raphael and Lucifer, he’d returned whole and far stronger than before. If you’d asked Castiel, he would not have an answer why. If resurrected by his father then why had his creator not answered when he’d pleaded to him for direction before opening Purgatory? Why leave him alone in the darkness of his own doubt and allow him to release the Leviathans from their prison?  
  
 _Because there were lessons in need of learning and paths, you needed to travel before you could rest, my child. There is still yet work awaiting you and I trust you to do what the future requires. For now rest and regain your strength. Your family waits._  
  
The voice whispered through silent waters, stirred the ripples of Creation, and tapped into their fluid power. Bit by bit, what the Leviathans had destroyed drew back together and knitted into a whole.  
  
Curled on his side in a fetal position, Castiel felt the waters of Creation close in around his mending vessel. He could feel Jimmy inside him as well, sleeping again as he was before everything went ass over apples. He needed Jimmy in too many ways to count. The human soul within his vessel helped him understand things no angel could imagine without intervention.  
  
A faint glimmer spread along his bare skin, interconnected sparks of light as his grace began to grow from the single flicker that had stayed afloat through it all. Only two things in existence could destroy an angel’s grace. A Leviathan was not one. Beneath Castiel’s pale skin a web of light began spreading, a highway map of his father’s power nourishing his weak grace. His nude body curled tighter as the map grew and everything he was, healed.  
  
Above the surface, Dean Winchester glanced down to see a familiar trench coat drift to the reservoir’s edge. His gut twisted in a knot as he squatted down to lift the soaked material from the water. Castiel had been more than an angel or a soldier—he’d been his brother. Dean swallowed back the bitter taste of grief at losing another piece of his dwindling family, his shoulders straightening as he lifted to his feet.  
  
“Stupid son of a bitch.” he mumbled as he folded the material clutched in his hands.  
  
Far below, some part of Castiel heard Dean’s murmured words of grief and affection as he and the others turned to leave. Lost in a healing sleep, protected by his father’s love, and hidden from the evil he’d released, Castiel sighed in regret as he felt those who he’d called family leave his presence.  
  
 _Dean, I will come back to you. I will redeem myself in your eyes._  
  
Still lost in sleep beneath the silent waters, Castiel smiled.  
  
~Finis~


End file.
